1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for mixing effluent with a liquid or powder using a venturi, and to the mixing device having needle valves which pierce a membrane of a cartridge system for the liquid or powder.
2. Description of the Related Art
For quite some time, the concept of a venturi has been used to mix effluent liquid with a material such as fertilizer, fungicide, plant food, or pesticide. For example, mixing a concentrated powder or granular form of fertilizer has been done. Typically, there is a plastic canister of the fertilizer, insecticide or weed killer in concentrated form, with a spraying nozzle on the top. The nozzle is at one end of a conduit, and at the other end is a threaded hose receptacle. A user loads the canister, or it comes loaded, and threads the hose to the conduit in the receptacle. There is usually an on/off switch which would be switched on and some of the water flows into the canister, mixing with concentrate. After being mixed, the water returns to the main flow and is sprayed out of the nozzle.
An example of a venturi device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,181 to Craig, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,847 to Hodges, U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,910 to King, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,729 to DeMarco.
More recently, devices which use ventui principles have been employed for fertilization through connection to an irrigation system, and have been called “fertigation” devices. One such device uses a re-fillable reservoir installed before anti-siphon valves. As known to the inventor, to date all these types of devices are electronically controlled to select between “bypass” (normal watering) and “use” (fertilizing) positions.
An example of a cartridge feeder system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,493 to Beiswenger et al. This system is manual in that you must connect the hose, and you must hold the hose and canister to spray wherever needed or desired. Moreover, many systems suffer from practical problems such as how to connect a canister or container to the system without spillage.